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(m J. E. GATHRIGHT.

ENVELOPE BALLOT.

110.411.1 12. 1 Patented Sept. 17, 1889..

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N. PETERS Phclo-L'rlhagnpbnr, Washington, D. c.

UNITED STATES PATENT QFFICE.

JOHN R. GATHRIGHT, OF LOUISVILLE, KENTUCKY, ASSIGNOR TO HIMSELF,

WILLIAM A. MERRIWETI-IER, AND ROBERT M. KELLY.

ENVELOPE-BALLOT.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 411,142, dated September 17, 1889.

Application filed May 6, 1889. Serial No. 309,685. (No model.)

To all whom it may concern:

Beit known that 1, JOHN R. GATHRIGHT, a citizen of the United States, residing at Louisville, in the county of Jefferson and State of Kentucky, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Envelope-Ballots; and I do hereby declare the following to be a full, clear, and exact description of the invention, such as will enable others skilled in the art to which it appertains to make and use the same.

My invention relates to the ballots used by electors in exercising the right of suffrage, and particularly to ballots used in voting where it is intended that the purport of any vote cast shall be known only to the elector who casts it.

The object of my invention is to prevent fraud, secure secrecy of the ballot, and enable illiterate electors to vote intelligently. I accomplish this object by means of my improved envelope-ballot made as illustrated in the accompanying drawings, in which Figure 1 represents my envelope-ballot 'as cut out ready for folding. Fig. 2 represents the envelope and the ballot projecting face up. Fig. 3 represents the back of the same, showing the position of the flap closed. Fig. at represents the back of the envelope with the ticket inserted, and Fig. 5 shows the front of the same.

Similar letters refer to similar parts thro u ghout the several figures.

In the drawings, A and B represent the body portions of my envelope-ticket, b the flap portion, and L the ticket portion. The envelope and ticket are integral. The dotted lines show where the folds are made. The flap portion is covered with suitable sealing solution.

To form the envelope, the body portion B is folded over the face of A along the dotted line a, and the flap portion 1) is folded down on the back of A and pasted to it, as shown in Fig. 3. The ends of the envelope are left open.

J K represent the printed list of offices and candidates on the face of the ticket.

In my improved envelope-ballot the names of all the candidates of one party are printed in one and the same color, and for each party represented a different coloris used. By this arrangement the illiterate voter will only have to know the color selected for his party in order to mark his ballot correctly.

In using my envelope-ballot, in order to identify the ballot as genuine, the clerk should be required, before handing a ballot to the voter, to write his name either on the face or the back of the closed envelope, as may be most convenient.

My envelope-ballot may be prepared, if desired, with a stub, so that they can be bound in books and be detached by the clerk and passed beforehand to the voter.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim as new, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is

An envelope-ticket for secret voting, consisting of body portions A and B, a flap portion 1), and a ticket portion L, substantially as set forth, and for the purpose specified.

In testimony whereof I affix my signature in presence of two witnesses.

'JOHN R. GATHRIGHT.

Witnesses:

WILLIAM A. MERRIWETHER, ARTHUR GARY. 

